Gad-Zukes!

I had 2 hefty zucchinis sitting in the fridge, and nothing is more revolting than rotted zucchinis. Even when they're fresh, they have a hint of sliminess. Kind of like, "Heh heh heh, if you leave us long enough, we will ooze ALL OVER YOUR FRIDGE..."

So, I decided to take action before the fridge microbes reduced them to a puddle of glop. (As if we need further convincing that wasting food is bad.)

But anyway, here're two ways to take care of zukes.

One way involves a grill. Slice the zucchinis lengthwise into strips (roughly 1/4" thick; perfection is not key). Have some soy sauce in a dish with a bit of oil and a brush (or spoon) on hand. Put the slices on a hot grill, and either brush or dribble the oil/soy sauce over them, turning them when they get a little cooked and have grill marks. Apply oil/soy sauce to the other side, cook a little more, and then eat. We call them snakes.

You could put teriyaki on them or even a curry-based marinade, and they'd taste great. This is the most stripped down quick way to do it. You could probably even cut them into cubes and skewer them, alternating with tomatoes. (Grilled tomatoes are very underrated. As are grilled onions. You know who has the grilled veggie thing down? The Persians. They know what's what in the grilled veggie department.)

Actually, this just came to me... if anyone is vegan or has friends who are and you're throwing a 4th of July party, take the vinaigrette from this recipe. I tried it with tofu which I sauteed, and it's fresh-tasting and I kind of want to drink it. It would probably rock with tempeh, which has more chewiness and flavor than tofu. I'd marinate the tempeh, and alternate tempeh chunks on skewers with zucchini, tomato, and onion. (Or just grill the tempeh in burger-sized pieces; incidentally, Trader Joe's sells tempeh as do most crunchy hippie health food stores.) Judging by how the tofu came out, you'll have to beat the meat-eaters off the tempeh. I don't have a BBQ at my disposal - hooray apartment living - but if anyone tries this, I want to know how it comes out!

So... the other way to cook zucchini requires an onion, several cloves of garlic, a can of tomato sauce (so I just realized I have no idea how big said can was, but it's the size of cans that beans typically come in), and dried oregano, basil, and chili flakes, or whatever herbs you like. Cut your zucchinis (I think I probably had somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 pounds) in half lengthwise, and then slice into 1/4-1/2" slices. Chop your onion and garlic. Heat some olive oil in a pan, sautee the onion. When it starts to turn brownish-translucent, throw in the garlic and the zukes. Sautee until the zukes start to turn bright green, get limp, and start to turn brown. Throw in the tomato sauce and your herbs (I have no idea how much; ~2-3 dashes), cover the pot, turn the heat down, and let it simmer until the flavors have time to mix. Done.

You can skew the ratio of veggie chunks:sauce in favor of the veggies and you have a side-dish, or if you like 'em saucy, it can top pasta. I had mine over some ravioli, even though it was more zucchini than sauce, but I like zucchini. And this typically tastes even better the next day.

(As a side-note... zucchinis will probably be tastier and more plentiful a little later in the season for those of us in the northern hemisphere. So enjoy!)